Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Coffee JelloYeah, this isn't the stuff you get in the hospital.

It's National Library Week! This is the 2nd annual celebration on my blog. As I say, I'm putting the Librarian in the Food Librarian!

Last month, I had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, and my friend ordered Vietnamese coffee - a combo of espresso and condensed milk. I love Vietnamese coffee, but I can't handle caffeine so I just had a sip. I knew I wanted to make it in Jello form. Right away.

The Japanese also make a coffee jello - sweetened black coffee gelatin cubes or cups. Often, it is served with cream. But I wanted mine all mixed together so it can be served easy-to-eat finger jello style.

I made this with Starbucks VIA (Starbuck's new instant coffee), Knox unflavored gelatin, and sweetened condensed milk. Because the milk is sweetened, I didn't add any additional sugar.

This was a CROWD favorite at the library. My co-workers love all coffee and mocha desserts. I brought it out at 3 pm and it was a perfect pick-me-up! Of course, you can make them with decaffeinated coffee...but the coffee drinkers will just look at you weird and wonder why anyone would do that.

I used mini-cupcake liners to serve the coffee jello. These are about 1-inch squares.

All this week, I'm highlighting a library thing (usually a public library thing b/c that's my gig). Today, it's Downloadable Media. My favorite provider is OverDrive. You can download audiobooks and eBooks to your home computer and transfer them to a portable device (such as MP3, iPod, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook). Remember that crazy 30 days of Bundts I did in November? I wouldn't have made it through all that baking and blogging without downloadable audiobooks. Downloadable media is free, easy to use and there are never any overdue fines. See if your library subscribes to OverDrive on their website.

I'm having 5 days of giveaways during National Library Week!

To celebrate Day 3 of National Library Week, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:a. Two Disney kitchen towelsb. Two Mickey Mouse shaped egg or small pancake molds

Living in Southern California has some disadvantages (our seasons are: Fire, Flood, and Earthquake) but sooooo many advantages. And one is buying the Disneyland Annual Pass. So, I picked up these cute kitchen Disney-themed items for today's giveaway!

I have a set of the molds and made this last year (post here). Enter the contest so you can greet friends and family with fun shaped food. :)

To enter the Day 3 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat (aka Random). Deadline for all contests: Monday, April 19, 2010 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email. Shipping to U.S. addresses only. Librarian action figure not included.

1. Place 1/2 c cold water in a bowl.2. Sprinkle 3 unflavored gelatin packets over the water. Let sit until the gelatin blooms, about 10 minutes.3. Stir in the hot coffee and mix until the gelatin is completely dissolved.4. Stir in the can of sweetened condensed milk.5. Pour into glass pan. Thickness of finished jello depends on the size of the pan. I used a 7 x 11 pan but a 9 x 13 pan will give you thinner pieces and an 8 x 8 pan will give you thicker pieces.

Note: The combo of coffee and sweetened condensed milk is inspired by Vietnamese coffee. You can probably adapt this to use coffee or espresso, cream and sugar (be sure to dissolve the sugar in the hot coffee and gelatin). I find that 1 packet of unflavored gelatin will firm up 1 1/2 cups of liquid to finger jello "strength" (according to David Lebovitz's "How to Use Gelatin" post you can mold 2 cups with one envelope - but I feel finger jello needs to be stronger).

I have to admit that when I read the title of this post I thought it sounded a little gross. But the pictures are so beautiful and it seems so simple. I think I'll be making it soon. I suspect my coworkers will get a real kick out of it. It's unlike anything I've ever made for them.

I know I'm excluded for this giveaway (Why do I have to live in Europe???), but just wanted to let you know that I think that mickey pancake and egg are super cute!! But then I do have a thing for anything Disney.... :D

Oh wow! I'm not normally one for gelatinous things, but I might have to try this with the coffee I work with every day (my day job is as a barista trainer and customer-relations rep for a coffee roaster, Counter Culture Coffee).

I love coffee in any way, shape, and form so this looks like a great recipe for me! I was wondering if it needs to be refrigerated until serving it - or can it hang around for an hour or so if I bring it somewhere else?

I am a huge disney fan! Growing up that is where my family and I always went on vacation. We would make the drive from my house to disney world every summer and we recently started going every Christmas. My brother and I always loved to eat the Mickey Mouse waffles and Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast when we went. So seeing those towels and molds brings back some fond childhood memories!

Mary, this is one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. A HUGE part of me wants to try it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one eating coffee Jell-O. It might be worth it. Thanks for keeping things interesting!

Coffee jello... hmmm... now that's what I call creative! I guess you could use water + unsw cocoa powder and make choc jello. Add instant espresso and you could call them Mocha Jello. You got me thinking... :o)

I got as far as the information about downloadable media and was off to the races! Wow, I didn't know all that I can do through my King County Library System!! Thank you, thank you!

I had Vietnamese coffee last year in Vietnam and fell in love with the stiuff; cold is the best way to drink it especially in such a hot country. (The Pacific Northwest isn't known for the high temperatures that California gets).

I grew up having coffee jello with whipped cream made by my Finnish mother! Love it! Thanks for posting it. It brought back wonderful memories of the 60's and 70's. Think I'll make it this weekend. :-) Yum.

Okay. I will admit, at first I was a little weirded out by the coffee jell-o but the more I read your post the more intrigued I became. I now MUST make these. I am definitely a coffee drinker and considered trying Vietnamese coffee the other day when I went to my first Vietnamese restaurant. But I was too chicken. I will have to go back now. Thanks for posting!!!

PS. I love the pictures of the Mickey mouse cutters. Very colorful and creative!

The coffee jello looks awesome, can't wait to try it, but I'll make mine decaf. i can't stand the caffeine and worse my 10yo is a coffee junkie too. thanks for talking about Overdrive. My whole family uses it for audio books and we love it, but when I suggest it to people they look at me like I'm crazy. Of course we like ebooks also since the don't require space to store and don't make dust, so Overdrive is awesome.

These are fun! I used 8 Tbsp of French Roast and they taste just like a latte in a cube. I like to call them "Coffee of the Future". The texture is sort of strange to begin, and then it's just coffee deliciousness. Thanks for the recipe. I'll be using it a lot this summer.

Absolutely a great recipe! I have always been addicted to coffee jelly and I am really happy that you took your time to share this with us. I will put this in the cold coffee I would make from my new espresso coffee maker Kudos!

I normally dislike jell-o with a passion greater than J.C.'s, but these are not the typical jell-o treats I'm used to seeing. PLUS, I do need to start eating more gelatin to help my arthritis. Technically, it's doctor-recommended/doctor-approved!